Stanford University

Stanford University

Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, CA, near Palo Alto. Founded in 1891, Stanford’s nearly unmatched selectivity and prestige make it a sunnier alternative to its older Ivy League cousins on the East Coast. Stanford’s proximity to Silicon Valley gives its student body an entrepreneurial bent; the most popular course of study is computer science, followed by biology and engineering. Stanford is a major hub for research, with more than 6,000 externally sponsored projects and a $1.6 billion research budget in the 2017-18 academic year. Students at Stanford, most of whom live on the school’s picturesque 8,180-acre campus, also enjoy a rich extracurricular life, with more than 600 registered student organizations, including Greek life. Notable past students make up a virtual directory of Silicon Valley A-listers including billionaires Elon Musk, Laurene Powell Jobs, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Reed Hastings, Peter Thiel, and Evan Spiegel, in addition to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305–2004